It's Only Forever
by Fey Shadows
Summary: After her firends stop coming to see her Sarah decides to return to the Underground, finding a world more trouble than she first expected. Rating may change
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi guys, I really really need a beta. Just for spelling and grammar mainly, and someone who can get back to me quickly when I send them a chapter (say, around two days) send me a message if you're interested.

***

"He was very old, Sarah. Ancient for a dog." Her father murmured consolingly.

"I know." Sarah replied numbly, stroking the fur of her beloved pet, Merlin remained unmoving in his basket, his snout tucked in his paws as if he would awaken at any moment. A tear dripped off her chin and landed on the sheepdog's fur.

Unable to bear it Sarah ran, out of the house, across the street and beyond, to the park she had spent so long in as a child, she didn't stop running until she collapsed breathlessly sobbing under a tree. As if to suit her mood the darkened sky rumbled and it began to rain heavily, the tree afforded her little protection from the downpour and she was soon soaked.

Sarah remembered back to another rainy day, the day she had wished her brother away, she stood up and stared up at the angry sky. "Hoggle!" she screamed at the top her lungs over the thunderous rain, "Ludo!" "Didymus!" but they didn't answer her calls; they hadn't spoken to her for three years. She could still remember Hoggle's tense face the last time she had ever seen him "It's not that the others don't want to see you Sarah," he had told her gently, "it's just that things have changed, the Underground has changed." When she had pressed him he had closed up, refusing to say anything more and then he too had stopped coming to her when she called.

Shivering and dripping wet Sarah retreated to the shelter of the tree again, at twenty-one years of age she had lost the final link to her childhood and she had never felt so lost. "I wish the goblins would come take me away...right now." She said softly, the world seemed to stand still for a moment and her heart skipped a beat in her chest. Nothing happened, no one came to get her. Sarah dropped her face into her hands. Was the world so unbearable that she would truly wish herself away to Him?

She dangled between the two worlds in indecision, living in the adult world was slowly strangling her, more and more she retreated to the labyrinth in her mind, choosing fairy tales over reality, because reality was harsh, reality gave her little comfort. A cold bleakness hit her, she had never felt truly alive in her own world but to return to the Underground would be a loss of her freedom. Why had Jareth not come when she wished herself away? Surely the Goblin King would come to laud over his victory and take her back to the Labyrinth.

And yet there was no sign of an owl, goblin, or Goblin King. She remained cold and alone.

***

When she arrived back, night had fallen. Sarah walked wearily over to Merlin's basket and finding it empty, she felt a fresh wave of tears prick the corners of her eyes. She headed in a dreamlike state to the back garden, catching sight of a small mound of freshly turned earth, the crooked letters on the plank read 'Merlin' vertically, obviously Toby's handiwork. She touched the letters, the paint was dry, she must have been gone for hours.

A warm blanket dropped around her shoulders and she blinked up at her father "Come on, you're wet through, I've run a bath for you." Sarah numbly let her father shepherd her inside the house and up the stairs into the bathroom. She remained in the steadily cooling water until her hands and feet wrinkled, when she got out she wrapped a towel around her body and walked into her darkened bedroom, shivering for the first time she quickly dressed in her pyjamas and wrapped the duvet tightly around her shoulders, burying her face into the forgiving comfort of her pillow.

***

Sarah stirred fitfully, her black hair sticking damply to her fevered brow, a gentle hand pressed her wrist whilst observing a pocket watch in the other hand. "Jareth?" She asked faintly.

The figure loomed closer and she saw the kind face of an old man, his hazel eyes warm, someone she couldn't quite place. "It's Dr. Gray, Sarah." The man prompted gently "Will you sit up and drink a little for me? Your temperature is very high."

With his help she sat up and took small sips of a glass of water, the liquid felt like refreshing ice down her throat. She closed her eyes and slumped back down on the pillows retreating into her dreams again.


	2. Chapter 2

She drifted in and out, sometimes Jareth came to her, reliving the last moments before she had taken Toby back. "Everything that you wanted, I have done... I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you." She reached out for the crystal orb but it was just out of grasp "Just fear me, love me... and I will be your slave." The orb crashed to the ground shattering into millions of pieces.

"Jareth!" she called, sitting bolt upright in bed. Sunlight streamed through her windows, dust motes drifted dreamily in front of her eyes, swirling in invisible air currents and catching the light. She felt drained, it took her several moments to get out of bed and pull her dressing gown on and even longer to make her careful journey downstairs to the kitchen.

Karen looked up from her coffee when she entered the room, "Sarah! You're up." She seemed genuinely pleased.

A little taken aback Sarah accepted a warm mug, taking small sips, it was a little too milky for her taste but she appreciated the gesture, her relationship with Karen was normally polite yet distant.

"Staying out in the rain gave you a nasty cold." Karen said, interrupting Sarah's musings.

She regarded her step-mother blearily "How long was I out for?"

"Three days, we were all worried for you Sarah."

She felt a fleeting feeling of warmth towards the woman, perhaps there were times when she could have made Karen's role as a step-mother easier.

"Who's Jareth?" Karen asked.

Sarah stiffened, what had she said whilst she was hallucinating? "I...don't know, some character in a book I suppose."

Karen's brow furrowed and Sarah wasn't entirely sure she bought it. "Is he a young man? Your father and I always worried you didn't date in college."

"No... nothing like that, just leave it alone Karen please." Sarah pleaded desperately.

"Ok Sarah, but you know if you're having boy troubles I'm here, even if you just want a friendly ear."

Sarah stared darkly into the mug and wondered how Karen would react to the story of the Goblin King, not well, she concluded. Padded rooms? A distinct possibility. She tuned back into what Karen was saying.

"Where do you see your life going Sarah? You finished your creative writing degree several months ago and you've not written a thing, or submitted something to a publisher. I know your father said that you're welcome to stay as long as you like but you seem to have fallen into limbo rather make decisions about the direction you life is heading in Sarah. I think staying here in your old room has gotten you stuck, it isn't healthy for a grown woman to be stuck at home like this."

Karen's face loomed far too sincerely over the table and Sarah stared at her speechless for a moment, any warm feeling for her step-mother quickly evaporating. She was being kicked out, no matter how nicely Karen had put it. Her father would soon follow Karen, no matter what opinion he originally expressed Karen could talk him around to anything.

"I'll look for somewhere to stay." She replied reluctantly, she had savings a few good friends who would take her in.

***

In the days of her recovery, Sarah spent her time searching the internet for information about The Underground. The details within stories often conflicted with each other but the vague references to the Goblin-King kept her going. Reviewing her notebook there were a few key facts that seemed to be consistent in a lot of the myths.

1. The veil between the human world and the Underground was thinnest on significant astronomical events which could be observed on earth, such as solar and lunar eclipses, solstices and shooting stars.

2. The Fey were drawn to naturally forming circles, mushroom rings, circular tree-groves, round pools etc.

3. The fey couldn't lie outright, though they were capable of twisting truths.

4. Humans should never accept food or drink from any fey creatures.

5. The stealing of human children was commonplace, human adults were generally left alone unless to play tricks on.

Sarah frowned at her list; the last point may be a problem... how could she guarantee that Jareth would take her back with him and let her see her friends again. Her research had also found that there were different types of fey, Sidhe were human in appearance and ruled over the lesser fey such as goblins, brownies or pixies. Jareth must be a Sidhe, she concluded, wondering if she could use it to her advantage.

There was a knock on her door, "Come in" Sarah called, smiling at the appearance of Toby.

The fair headed boy dumped a rolled up newspaper on her lap and clambered onto the bed next to her, peering at her laptop. "Fairies? Are you writing a fairy story Sarah? Can I hear it? Will you tell me the Goblin King one again?" The seven year old fired questions rapidly, his face glowing with interest and excitement. Sarah smiled at her half-brother, "Once upon a time there was a beautiful

young woman whose stepmother always made her stay with the baby. The baby was a sweet kid who was unfortunate to have a horrible mother..."

***

Toby kissed her cheek at the end, "thank you Sarah. You're so good at telling stories, sometimes it's like I can almost remember being there."

Sarah hugged the boy "Well who knows, maybe it is real after all."

"Toby! Bath!" Yelled Karen from downstairs. Toby sighed but slid off the bed to obey, leaving Sarah alone once more.

She picked up the paper and unfurled it, she had asked Toby to get her the Washington Post on his way home from school, and he must have gotten muddled because the paper she held was the New York Times. Smiling she shook her head and flicked through the newspaper, stopping to read articles that caught her eye. One in particular made her stop and stare 'Protests Over Golf Course Plans' the angry headline declared, though the sad story of protected redwood trees being flattened for an executive's golf course was interesting what caught Sarah's attention was the overhead photo of the forest, there was a break in the trees which looked distinctly circular from above.

Her mind buzzed with a slowly forming plan, Midsummer's Eve was a few weeks away, perhaps she could use to grove to call for Jareth. But first she had to be certain that it was round, the phone call to Sequoia National Park was going to be a very strange one, she checked her watch and counted back the hours, it would be about 3pm there.

"Sequoia National Park Warden Office, Hello?" Came a friendly female voice down the line

"Hi, there." Sarah started breezily. "I'm interested in the redwoods under threat."

"Oh we're fighting that in the courts and we're fairly confident we can win." The woman said reassuringly.

"That's great news," Sarah replied. "I was looking at the aerial photographs and I noticed that some of the redwoods seem to form a round kind of clearing..."

"Oh yeah, the grove, it's very beautiful but a bit of a treacherous hike."

"Is it round?" Sarah pressed

"It's pretty circular, yeah, though maybe a little wonky." She could hear the bemusement in the woman's voice.

Sarah's heart beat faster in her chest, she had found her way through. "That's great, thank you, bye." She hung up quickly, staring down at the newspaper with a smile on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Still need a beta!**

The door opened and her step-mother walked in. Trust Karen not to knock, Sarah thought darkly to herself. "Yes, Karen?" she asked serenely, resettling the blanket on her shoulders.

"I want you to stop filling Toby's head with nonsense." She said bluntly, not bothering to sit down she towered over Sarah as she sat on her bed, hands on hips.

"What nonsense?" Sarah replied innocently.

Karen's eyes narrowed and Sarah could tell she'd pushed her far enough for an outburst. "Goblins!" She waved her hand agitatedly "Fairies, mazes and that rubbish."

"I don't see the harm-" Sarah started slowly

"Don't see the harm?" Karen said, cutting her off "He needs to concentrate on the real world, on his schoolwork, not gallivanting off to play at being a goblin king in the park."

"He's seven years old!" Sarah protested. "Enjoying his imagination won't ruin his life."

A cruel glint entered Karen's eyes, like a shark scenting blood she went in for the kill, "Look at you, no husband, no job, not even a boyfriend. What do you have to show for yourself? A worthless degree and sat amongst your childish little toys at twenty-one."

Sarah gaped, unable to come up with a suitable retort before her step-mother strode triumphantly from her room and shut the door behind herself.

"Yeah...well knock next time," she muttered to herself as she picked her phone.

"Hello, this is Linda Williams, how may I help you?"

"Hi...Mom, it's Sarah." She started hesitantly.

"Sarah! How wonderful from you to hear from you darling, can we keep this quick, I'm waiting to hear back from a casting director."

"Well...I was wondering if I could come live with you for a while?" she asked, wincing at her own bluntness, she had hoped for more time to gently ease her mother into the idea.

"Oh honey, you know I don't have room in my life to look after a kid..." her mother replied sorrowfully.

"I'm twenty-one, I just need somewhere to stay for a bit." Sarah wheedled.

Her mother laughed lightly "I'm still passing for thirty here sweetie, can't have the press getting hold of something like that. Now, talk to your Father I'm sure he can let you stay. Got to go busy, busy! Kiss, kiss, darling!"

Her mother drowned out her attempts to speak and the line went dead, Sarah flopped back on the bed, the sting of rejection drawing tears to her eyes. Homelessness was looming unpleasantly. She thought back to her roommate Pippa, she had offered Sarah her couch if she ever needed a place to stay, but how would she explain her visit to the Underground? Pippa lived in San Francisco near her parents, it would be convenient enough for the park, perhaps she could claim to have taken up hiking. She wasn't sure her friend would buy it but it was as good a plan as any and it meant she had somewhere to stay after she had seen her friends in the Labyrinth

***

"I'm so thrilled you came out, it's been just so weird living by myself!" Pippa piped chattering happily, her voice still held some of the melodic rhythms of her native Ireland though she hadn't lived there since she was young. Her small car was so loaded with Sarah's bags that she had worried that it would topple over, but it sped from the train station without a problem. Philippa Flynn, or Pippa as she insisted on been called, was a small waif-like creature with deep red hair and pale skin to match, her eyes were a bright blue.

"How long are you staying?" Pippa had always been painfully honest and blunt, it annoyed some people but Sarah found it refreshing. "I mean, well I have a spare room you can have...if you want it?"

Sarah blinked at Pippa's kindness, "I'd love that, I'll pay half the rent of course..."

Pippa laughed "Oh it's owned by my parents anyway and they'd be pleased I'm not out there on my own."

"Yeah... all of thirty miles away..." Sarah joked.

Her friend rose her eyebrows "I could be throwing wild parties and snorting pot!" she said looking slightly indignant.

"I'm pretty sure you can only smoke pot Pippa. And you run at the first sight of parties."

Pippa grimaced "Well they're so full of people...and noisy..." Sarah's roommate had always preferred the retreat of painting, in the same way that she preferred her books and writing. It had been a good day when they had been assigned to each other.

"I'll only be around for a week or so at first." Sarah said, unsure of how to bring up the topic. It was ten days to be exact but Sarah didn't want Pippa to question why she had to be elsewhere on a specific day.

Pippa's face fell slightly then brightened "But you'll be back? Where are you going? Anywhere fun?"

"Oh just hiking for a week or so, I have a book forming in my head and I need some time to think it out by myself." Sarah hoped a week would cover it; she wasn't sure how long she would be allowed to remain in the Labyrinth.

"Ew, well if that's what you need to inspire you..." Sarah giggled at Pippa's lack of enthusiasm.

**Review if you like it, review if you hate it... just let me know what you think**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Couldn't have done this without MadlyinlovewithBowie, my epic beta who has kindly agreed to help me.

It wasn't the sunlight that woke her, though it shone brightly through the windows because she had forgotten to close the blinds; what woke her was the loud, painfully out of tune singing. The clock read eleven am, the change in time zones had messed up her body clock. She stumbled tiredly into the kitchen in a quest for coffee only to be greeted by the full volume of whatever song Pippa was mangling. The petite redhead stood in the centre of the kitchen, her brush tracing out shapes on a canvas of bright colours. She pulled her headphones off and smiled at Sarah as she entered.

"Hey, help yourself to breakfast."

Sarah grabbed a mug of coffee and hovered over Pippa's shoulder curiously.

"What are you painting?" If someone had done the same thing to her when she was writing Sarah would have been deeply annoyed but Pippa loved to talk.

"I'm painting a forest without using any green." She explained, leaning forward to dab a touch of blue on one of her trees.

"I see." Sarah said, mystified though admiring the effect.

***

The days before Midsummer's Eve flew by and Sarah once more got used to waking up to Pippa's dire singing. They both settled into a kind of routine; Sarah writing short stores to submit to publishers and Pippa painting.

Sarah hated to pull herself out of the comfortable sanctuary, but, she reminded herself, she would soon be back. Just one visit to the Underground.

***

Sarah was painfully aware that time was running out. An unearthly twilight had descended over the forest; she had an hour at the most before the sun would set fully on the longest day of the year. Biting her lip as she checked the GPS the device flickered and cut out but not before showing her that she was in Russia.

"Expensive piece of junk." She muttered as she tucked it away in her pack. She looked around the mass of trees that surrounded her, before sighing and continuing on in the general direction of where she thought grove was. She hoped she would not miss her window of opportunity.

Suddenly there was a break in the trees and Sarah came to a halt, the tall redwoods looming round her in a circle, their branches filtering the gentle midsummer light. She had found the grove!

Now that she was there she felt a hesitance, her hair was probably a mess and she was filthy from the hike, hardly the condition she wanted to be in when she saw him again. For a wavering moment she considered forgetting her insane quest and going home. Gritting her teeth she steeled herself.

"Jareth, Goblin-King, I call you." She announced to the air but the grove remained disappointingly still.

"Jareth, I call you." Sarah spun around looking for him, hints of worry and even panic echoing from her voice, but again there was nothing.

But three always seemed to hold a magical quality in the stories she read…

"Jareth!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, startling several sleeping birds from their roosts and they flew off, twittering.

"You called?"

Sarah turned quickly to the source of the painfully familiar voice, almost falling to the ground in her haste.

"Jareth..." she breathed out, seeing him again was more painful then she had expected.

He said nothing; but was the image of how she remembered him, right down to the arrogant way he stared at her with crossed arms.

She walked slowly towards him. "I want to go to the Underground; I want to see my friends."

His face remained cool and impassive. "And what might you offer in return?"

Sarah had been expecting this; the fey never did anything for nothing. "I offer one of my names in trade." Names were personal things, Jareth could know her name but that was just a word, to give a magical creature your name was to grant them some control over you. To give them all your names was to grant complete control.

Jareth's eyes narrowed to slits and he regarded her for a tense, silent moment. "Very well, but you must tell me your name first."

"And you give your word that you'll transport me Underground safely."

"Yes, yes." Jareth replied impatiently.

"My name is Sarah." The sentence was so simple but it weighed heavily on her tongue.

He offered her a gloved hand "Take my hand and I will transport you there, Sarah." The way her spoke her name went deep as if touching her soul, it was uncomfortably personal.

She hesitantly rested her hand in his, partly by compulsion, this seemed wrong somehow, perhaps too easy. She looked up into his eyes, expecting to see the familiar mismatched hazel; instead she saw a pair of steely grey ones looking down at her. She tried to pull back but the grip on her hand was too tight, painfully so.

The grove was ripped away and in its place was a darkened stone room. Sarah stumbled back in astonishment.

"Jeremy?" Jareth's face was gone, the cool grey eyes which were never his were now in the aristocratic features of her mother's friend, his curly black hair reaching the nape of his neck and his skin was a shade of pale that always made her mother joke that he looked like a vampire. There was an ethereal glow in his skin that had been absent in their previous meetings and there was a feral tilt in his eyes which somehow added to his inhumanity.

"Sarah, you don't know how long I've waited to show you my true self." He stepped towards her, gently guiding her to plush black velvet couch and lighting several candles with a wave of his hand.

"I don't understand, you're my mother's friend, you were Jareth..." Sarah said faintly.

He pressed a goblet into her hands. "Drink it Sarah, it will make you calmer." At the use of her name her hands rose automatically, bringing the goblet to her lips. "I'm afraid some slight trickery was required to get you to come to the Underground with me."

Sarah took a small sip of the wine, the warmth settling in her stomach and easing her shock. "But Sidhe can't lie..."

He smiled at her, "You've been doing your research, you always were such a bright girl Sarah" he said admiringly. "I never did lie, I never claimed to be Jareth, you just assumed."

Looking back on the encounter in the grove she realised that Jeremy had never lied to her, in fact he had barely spoken. "Jeremy, where's Jareth?" she asked, feeling an edge fear set in.

Jeremy's face darkened and he grasped her wrist dragging her forward and closer to his body, the goblet went toppling to the ground with a loud clatter . It was cold and his black cape fell over her shoulder, making her shiver. "Don't you see? You were mine long before you were ever his! You're mine Sarah - you're still mine and I don't intend to let you go - not to Jareth." His voice hissed around her, slithering into her ears.

Sarah stared up at him, trying to pull away, but his grasp tightened, bruising "I...don't understand..."she choked out.

He knelt in front of her and took one of her hands staring back at her with sincerity.

"I found you in the beginning Sarah. Even when you were a baby you could see through my Glamour. In the hospital room, your eyes followed me about and you wouldn't stop smiling. I watched you grow, waiting for when you would be old enough to handle meeting me... and you did, I danced with you that night we went out with your mother. But you weren't ready; I knew that, you were only just beginning to bloom."

She withdrew her hand from his. "You made my mother leave my father?"

He shook his head "No, she chose that path by herself."

Sarah flinched slightly as his insult but he was only voicing the harsh truths she had come to know by herself over years of disappointments.

He continued on, "I planned to reveal myself to you on your eighteenth birthday; I planned to take you away from that polluted, dirty world. But Jareth snatched you away when you were fifteen, planting ideas in your head with that damned book"

He was back to pacing again, Sarah looked on mutely, trying to take everything in.

"It broke my heart to see you dancing with him at the Goblin Masque, but what was I to do? He'd already claimed you at that point." He turned back to her. "Even after you rejected him and shattered his power... his mark remained. So I watched you, waiting for my chance to arise, and wasn't hard to plant the seeds in your life. Your step-mother pushing you out of her home, she's never liked you. Dear Linda turning a deaf ear to her child's need, she always was selfish. The article was the hardest to get you to see, but then you became ill and sent the boy - he was much easier to influence. And here you are." He smiled at her, happiness lighting his handsome face as he sat down next to her again.

"Jeremy..." Sarah began cautiously, the pieces were slowly falling together and it was not a comforting feeling.

"Please call me Cormac, it's my real name." He interjected.

"Cormac then," she continued, "I just want to see my friends, I didn't come back for any of this..." she waved her hand vaguely around the stone room, raising her hand to her temple as a wave of dizziness hit her.

He smiled and stroked her cheek "You'll change your mind soon enough."

Her eyes drooped shut and Sarah fought to open them again. "What did you do to me?" she murmured.

Cormac smiled "You would have thought by now that you would have learned not to accept food or drink from the fey, Sarah."

Her world went dark.

**Reviews are welcomed, cherished and given little wooly hats**


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